After several straight days of gear entries, I was starting to feel guilty and thought I might share some of my personal favorite images.  Because it’s all about the image, we don’t  own cameras, and tripods, and bags, except to take them  out there and make photographs!!!  After you take a peek at these images I will offer some insights that came to me as I looked at some of my personal favorite  images…….

 

 

After looking through the images I pulled from my files at random, I discovered some interesting things;

 

1.  Gear didn’t seem to matter that much, the images were made with everything from an iPhone to a D800, and everything in between!!

 

2.  With the exception of one action football shot, made a long time ago, almost everything I photograph is not moving!!!

 

3.  My favorite images are all about color, light, shape, and texture…..

 

4.  I can remember what it was like, who I was with, and the joy of making everyone of these images!!!

 

5.  The last image says it all, the peoiple I’ve been honored to get to know, become friends, and have fun with, are the greatest joy of all!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

I promised to deal with waist belt systems so here we go.

 

First a Disclaimer:  I have a personal policy of never recommending something unless I actually use it myself, and have bought the product with my own money.  This protects you from being convinced something is great just because some manufacturer gave me one!!!  If you are a fan of;  Tenba, Clik, Tamrac, Kata, or many of the other bags out there this is not meant as a shot at your bow!  I just have never used any of those except Tenba and that was years a ago.  So I only report on Domke, Lowepro, and Think Tank.  Those are the only brands I currently own or have owned for some time.  This would be an appropriate place to tell a quick story.  For many years I’ve been friends with George Lepp.  In the very early days of my interest in photography George was known as the “go-to-guy” about equipment reviews, and recommendations,  this was long, long before DP Review and other on line reviewers.  George not only gave excellent information he also was very unbiased.  He was a Canon shooter, and was supported by Canon, but that did not prevent him from praising the products from other camera companies.  Being a  Nikon shooter that always made me feel great, I knew what ever I read from George was fair and honest. Later when we met and ran some workshops together I found that was the kind of guy he was, he called it as he saw it.  I never thought that I would be doing reviews, but when I started I tried to follow the great example set by George.  Now that I am approaching retirement from Nikon, I very much want to be that kind of reviewer.  I will have the freedom to do just that when I am a free moral agent, and I hope I can be as fair and honest as George was!

 

One more important point, I’m not a pixel peeper, not that there’s anything wrong with that (ala Jerry Seinfeld!).  I want to do reviews that talk about how effective any product is at making better images in the field, not on a test bench!  Is the product made well, does it work the way it is supposed to work?  Is a camera capable of high quality imaging, are lenses sharp, and well made, does the camera bag hold the stuff you need, and is it user friendly!!??  I hope come July that I can conduct these kinds of reviews here and be helpful to all of you, as we all make our buying decisions together!  Just always remember that I have no agenda here except to be honest and open in these mini reviews!  Should be fun and I expect to learn a lot myself!!!

 

O.K. waist belts.  I only own one brand, Think Tank, and I am very satisfied with their products!  I’ve never worn out a Think tank product and I use them hard.  My Airport Security 2.0 has hundreds of thousands of air miles and airport terminal  miles and all I’ve ever done was replace the handle!!!  And they replaced that free of charge!  (In fairness I’ve never worn out a Lowepro or Domke product either!)    Think Tank stuff is very well made and designed, and extremely user friendly, the zippers work great,  the interiors are easy to customize for whatever lens, flash or accessory you want to have quick access to.

 

I own two belt systems, one for a smaller mirror-less camera system, and one for my DSLRs both for FX and DX.  Below is my heavy duty model for DSLRs and lenses.  The way I use this belt is a way to carry around three lenses in addition a camera and lens that is over my shoulder.  The pockets and cubbyholes  in the three pouches can hold extra batteries, cable release, cleaning supplies and other accessories.  The one below includes the think Tank Pro Speed Belt, a large Lens Drop In pouch, trim changer pouch, and speed changer pouch and a lens changer 75 (for 70-200 and similar size lenses) and a very handy Bum Bag, to hold all the little extras you need in the field.

 

 

If I am going lighter, which I’m doing a lot more today my smaller Think Tank belt system will hold a full system of smaller Mirror-less gear.  With This belt I can carry one camera with a lens over my shoulder and have 4 or 5 additional lenses and accessories in the pouches.  It weighs less than half the big belt with lenses, quite nice when you have a lot of walking to do!!  The two extra pouches are for carrying a  flash or Constant Source LED lights which I’ve been experimenting with, more on that in a future blog post!!  The extra pouches are usually stored in the vehicle and not worn on the belt!

 

The bag in the very first image at the top is the Speed Racer fanny pack type bag that is great worn on the front and secured with a  shoulder strap for sitting in the open door of a helicopter, it keeps all your lenses within easy reach when shooting on such a precarious platform!!!

 

So there you have it, some more thoughts on  how to distribute the weight, keep your gear close, at hand, and work faster and more effieciently!  Hope some of these ideas may work for you!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

He’s alive, He’s alive, and so are we!  Because of His sacrifice we have eternal life.  Almost from the day of his resurrection there have been those that questioned the reality that He truly rose from the dead!    Some have offered the theory that He was not really dead, and recovered in the tomb.  That does not explain the mistake that would have had to have been made by the experienced Roman soldiers that had crucified many men and declared them dead, then the questions remains how could a badly injured Jesus  move the stone, and what about the Roman guards the were stationed to prevent anyone from getting to the body?  Others said the disciples could have stolen his body and claimed he rose from the grave!  If that were so why would virtually every one of the disciples have submitted to die in horrible deaths to protect a lie?  If the Romans or the Jewish religious leaders had stolen the body they would have displayed the body to prove he did not rise from the dead!

 

No, my friend, he did come back to life.  He conquered death for both himself and us!

No, the Son has risen!

 

Because He Lives……

 

 (Verse 1)
God sent his son
They called him Jesus
He came to love
Heal and forgive
He lived and died
To buy my pardon
An empty grave
Is there to prove
My Savior lives

 

 

(Chorus)
Because he lives
I can face tomorrow
Because he lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because he lives

 

 

(Verse 2)
How sweet to hold
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net ]
A newborn baby
And feel the pride
And joy he gives
But greater still
The calm assurance
This child can face
Uncertain days
Because he lives

 

 

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)
And then one day
I’ll cross the river
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain
And then as death
Gives way to victory
I’ll see the lights
Of glory and
I’ll know he lives

Rarely does this ever happened, actually it has never happened until this morning!  I just got an email from a  person that really took me to task about my last three posts about tripods, bags, and choosing the gear best for you!  

 

First, I answered him with all the  courtesy and kindness I could pull together.  You never know what is happening in someone’s life to make them so angry they feel they have to lash out, so I certainly don’t want to make things worse for them.  Everyone has valid opinions, or at least valid for them, and I respect that.  

 

Secondly, brand loyalty can make some people very upset if they feel you’ve stepped on their toes, I understand that as well.  Since I only work for one company, Nikon, I do not represent, or get favors from any other companies I mention when talking about photography products on my blog entries. Some companies, whose products I use, and buy with my own money, do sponsor His Light Workshops, but Jim or I would never promote any product or service that we have not already used and been very happy with on our own, before any sponsorship is agreed to. I never assume that because someone shoots something other than a Nikon that they are a bad person, or have made a bad choice, we all need to choose our gear based on what is best for us, and what we like.  I have no problem with that at all. 

 

Third, this person did say something that frustrated me, in fact frustrated me enough that I felt compelled to right this blog entry for all the rest of you, and anyone, even if it’s only one person that may hold the same opinion.  He said, “Who made you the god of photography to dictate to all of us, what we need, or don’t need, or should buy^&!%@#$E@!:@!!!”

 

My response to that for the record:

 

I write this blog, principally to share my love and devotion to Jesus Chrsit, My Savior.  I try to bring message of encouragement and hope to my fellow brothers and sister in Christ, and to those that do not know Him.  I hope to urge those that do not know Him to come to know how deeply He loves th, and how He longs to have them as a member of His family.  That has always been, and continues to be my number one goal on this blog, and in my life. Everything else comes well after that!

 

Why write about photography at all then???  It is what I know best, I didn’t say what I know better than anyone else, just what I love and enjoy and like to share about.  I am just one more photographer out there having fun and enjoying the process.  I do not see my self as any more, or any less than that.  Everything I share is “my opinion“, that’s all.  Now the other reason I write about photography is that I believe God has given me a ministry to photographers, the people I know best and spend the most time with.  Am I qualified to offer the kinds of suggestions I make on this blog?  That is for you to decide, but again, for the record, these are my so called qualifications?  I have been a working professional photographer for over 43 years, I’ve taught workshops with and have become friends with many of the greatest photographers of our age, that certainly has allowed me to learn a great deal from them.  I have studied photography and the equipment we use with great fervor for many years, it is obviously a passion for me.  As a member of the industry  for the last 30 years, I’ve  had access to, and learned from some of the best people in the photographic industry and have salted that knowledge away as well. I’ve authored or co-authored five books, three of which have been best sellers.  But still, when I share the kinds of things I share here it is my opinion, my view, my thoughts, and ideas, it has never been, and never will be considered  by me, to be, words from on high!  I do not care what camera, bag, tripod, you use, as long as it is bringing you great joy in the process of making images!!!!  When I re-read my blog entries about gear choices I can see how some people would feel I am projecting an air of authority, but It is not that, it is that I have strongly  held views, but once again, they are simply my views.  Anyone that does not accept them is certainly free to disagree, and I welcome that.  It all comes down to this, I do not write this blog with the hope of upsetting anyone, but to be helpful. I apologize again to the man that wrote me the note, just please know if you come here, this is what we do here.

 

Have a great Easter,

 

the plilgrim